The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove

face with one hand and staring into the grass at her feet. Joseph Leander's gaze darted around the park as if a magic escape hatch would open up in the dark if he could only spot it. "No, I haven't seen a boy."
    Technically, Theo knew he could arrest them both on the spot for indecent exposure, but he didn't want to take the time to process them intoCountyJustice. "Go home, Joe.Alone. Your daughters shouldn't be by themselves right now. Betsy, do you have a ride?"
    Without uncovering her face, she said, "I only live two blocks away."
    "Go home.Now." Theo turned and walked back to the Volvo. No one had ever accused Theo of being clever (except for the time at a college party when he fashioned an emergency bong out of a two-liter Coke bottle and a Bic pen), but he was feeling somewhat less than clever for not having investigated Bess Leander's death more carefully. It was one thing to be hired because you're thought to be a fool, it's quite another to live up to the reputation.
    Tomorrow, he thought. First find the kid.
    Molly Molly stood in the mud with the two pastel Christian ladies looking at the dragon trailer.
    "Can you feel it?"
    "Why, whatever do you mean?" Marge said. "That's just a dirty old trailer – excuse me – mobile home." Until a second ago, she had only been concerned with her powder-blue high heels sinking into the wet turf. Now she and her partner were staring at the dragon trailer, wide-eyed.
    They could feel it, Molly could tell. She could feel it too: a low-grade sense of contentment, something vaguely sexual, not quite joy, but close. "You're feeling it?"
    The two women looked to each other, trying to deny that they were feeling anything. Their eyes were glazed over as if they'd been drugged, and they fidgeted as if suppressing giggles. Katie, the pink one, said, "Maybe we should visit these people." She took a tentative step toward the dragon trailer.
    Molly stepped in front of her. "There's no one there. It's just a feeling. You two should probably go fill out your petition."
    "It's late," said powder blue. "Maybe one morevisit then we have to go."
    "No!" Molly blocked their path. This wasn't as fun as she thought it would be. She had wanted to freak them out a little, not harm them. She had the distinct feeling that if they got any closer to the dragon trailer, school prayer would be losing two well-groomed votes. "You two need to get home." She took each by a shoulder and led them back to the street then pushed them toward the entrance of the trailer park. They looked longingly over their shoulders at the dragon trailer.
    "I feel the spirit moving in me, Katie," Marge said.
    Molly gave them another push. "Right, that's a good thing. Off you go." And she was supposed to be the crazy one.
    "Go, go, go," Molly said. "I have to get Stevie's dinner ready."
    "We're sorry we missed meeting your little boy," Katie said. "Where is he?"
    "Homework.See ya. Bye."
    Molly watched the women walk out of the park and climb into a new Chrysler minivan,then she turned back to the dragon trailer. For some reason, she was no longer afraid.
    "You're hungry, aren't you, Stevie?"
    The dragon trailer shifted shape, angles melting to curves, windows going back to eyes, but the glow wasn't as intense as it had been in the early dawn. Molly saw the burned gill trees, the soot and blistered flesh between the scales. Soft blue lines of color flashed across the dragon's flanks and faded. Molly felt her heart sink in sympathy. This thing, whatever it was, was hurting.
    Molly took a few steps closer. "I have a feeling you're too old to be a Stevie. And the original Stevie might be offended. How about Steve? You look like a Steve." Molly liked the name Steve. Her agent at SAG had been named Steve. Steve was a good name for a reptile. (As opposed to Stevie,which was more of a frozen goldfish name.) She felt a wave of warmth run through her amid the sadness. The monster liked his name.
    "You shouldn't have eaten that kid."
    Steve said nothing. Molly took another step forward, still on guard. "You have to go away. I can't help you. I'm crazy, you know? I have the papers from the state to prove it."
    The Sea Beast rolled over on his back like a submissive puppy and gave Molly a pathetically helpless look, no easy task for an animal capable of swallowing a Volkswagen.
    "No," Molly said.
    The Sea Beast whimpered, no louder than a newborn kitten.
    "Oh, this is justswell," Molly said. "Imagine the meds Dr. Val is going to put me